Quick Hits

• The Blood of Dawnwalker is off to a blistering start — the RPG has sold 1 million copies in just 3 days, per PC Gamer. Whatever's fueling that word of mouth, it's working.
• Spoiler alert, literally: The ending of Marvel's Wolverine has leaked online in the final stretch ahead of launch. Kotaku notes the game "began with leaked footage in 2023" and that what it calls PlayStation's biggest exclusive of the year must now "weather one last online attack." Mute your keywords, friends.
• Civilization VII is going to space: Firaxis has unveiled Earthrise, the game's first expansion, landing in 2027 alongside a major free update.
• Oops: IllFonic hotfixed a sex minigame out of Halloween: The Game, confirming to IGN it was a "major oversight."
• All-time Valve lore: A former writer says the studio staged its own Left 4 Dead 2 trailer "leak" in 2009 to get around an ESRB ban. Incredible.

Pokémon & Nintendo

Quiet day for Pokémon trainers, but the Nintendo beat is buzzing.

• Firaxis is celebrating 35 years of Civilization with a preview of what's next for Sid Meier's Civilization VII: the first expansion, Earthrise, arrives in 2027, and a major free update is on the way too (Nintendo Life). Prepare for liftoff, strategy fans.
• The first reviews for Hot Wheels Infinite Rush are in — Nintendo Life has rounded up the critics' verdicts on Milestone's open-world racer ahead of its Switch 2 launch next week.
• Square Enix hosted a panel for Final Fantasy VII Revelation at PAX West 2026 this weekend, featuring a recap trailer for the entire remake trilogy. Kotaku adds that the devs don't want the ending "explained to you by someone else" — they're asking fans to keep things spoiler-free out of respect.
• Nintendo Life's Box Art Brawl pits regional covers of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse against each other this week, after Japan utterly dominated last week's Mega Man Zero 2 vote with 73%.

Indie Games

• Halloween: The Game quietly shipped a hotfix removing its "Two-Person Power-Up" minigame — which players quickly spotted was, uh, more than a power-up. IllFonic confirmed the removal to IGN, calling it a "major oversight." If you're chasing closure, Destructoid has a guide to all three endings and the specific in-game actions needed to trigger each one.
• How to Fish is the fishing sim nobody saw coming: PC Gamer came away converted by its "ridiculous physics, killer spider crabs, and classic co-op chaos." This is party-game energy with a rod and reel.

Steam & PC

• PC Gamer's Steam Week in Review counted 54 idle games released on Steam last week — and many "look eerily similar." If your New Releases queue has felt a little samey lately, you are not imagining it.
• Five years after it was announced, Riot's League of Legends MMO remains a work in progress — co-founder Mark Merrill calls it the studio's "grail quest" (via IGN). Still bashing away, still no release window.
• A modding milestone 18 years in the making: a modder has shown off Metal Gear Solid 4's first custom map, a recreation of Metal Gear Solid 3's Groznyj Grad (PC Gamer). The Snake content loop is eternal.
• A hobby developer built a free, 3D galaxy map for Warhammer 40,000 that reportedly loads like lightning right in your browser — an essential toy for lore scholars of the Imperium.
• In hardware, IGN's Skytech Gaming Blaze 5 review finds the custom pre-built saves you "a lot of work" if you lack the patience for assembling a "modern-day puzzle" yourself.

Gaming Roundup

• Saber Interactive is talking AI on two fronts: an executive promises "there is absolutely no generative AI in Space Marine 3," while CCO Tim Willits remains bullish on AI overall — though concerned about its environmental impact, musing that "Elon wants to put servers in space. That could be the answer, right?"
• The Tetris Company has confirmed it had nothing to do with "the White House's racist rip-off," telling PC Gamer: "we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them."
• Kotaku's breakdown of Capcom's "new golden age" includes a former staffer's claim that Western studios spend too much time on Jira — and that micromanaging competitors may be "missing the forest for the trees."
• Entropy, a post-apocalyptic RPG in the vein of Fallout, is also drawing on a long-abandoned Warhammer spinoff — "if you're designing an RPG, you have to go back to the source," its creators tell PC Gamer.
• Resident Evil film director Zach Cregger says he's essentially on an "apology tour," feeling like he's "running for office" trying to convince skeptical fans not to call him a "LARPer" (IGN).
• Following that extended D23 trailer, GameSpot rounds up the weirdest worlds that could technically be in Kingdom Hearts 4.
• Robert Pattinson teases that The Batman Part 2 goes in "another totally different direction" (IGN).
• Prediction markets comedy hour: Kalshi prematurely paid out millions in wagers on a losing college football team — in the very state it's being sued by (Kotaku).
• And Universal Studios has kicked Buddy the Unicorn out of Halloween Horror Nights, because even movie maniacs apparently need a guest list (Kotaku).

No Call of Duty, Fortnite, or Arc Raiders news today — check back tomorrow for fresh dispatches from Warzone, the Island, and Rust Belt!